The world’s first captive Yangtze finless porpoise was born in aquatic habitat.

The world’s first captive Yangtze finless porpoise was born in aquatic habitat.

　　　　At 23: 51 on July 5, a Yangtze finless porpoise was born in Baiji Dolphin Museum, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This is the first successful birth of Yangtze finless porpoise in the world under completely artificial feeding conditions. The newborn porpoise is male, with a body length of about 70 cm, and its parents are individuals raised by the Institute in 1996 and 1999 respectively. These two adult individuals naturally mated in the Baibo Dolphin Museum in the summer of 2004, and delivered successfully after about 11 months of pregnancy.

　　　　During pregnancy, the researchers of the institute have been closely monitoring the dynamics of the female dolphin, including behavior, food intake, blood biochemical indicators and so on. On July 5, the female dolphin’s food intake decreased, and she did not eat twice during the day. At about 21: 30 that night, the tail leaves of the young dolphins were exposed from the mother. The researchers immediately started the plan, comprehensively observed the dynamics of the female dolphin, and made preparations for rescue. At 22: 10, the researchers once again observed that the tail leaves of young porpoises were sometimes exposed from the mother’s body and sometimes retracted. At 22: 40, the tail leaves of the young dolphins were stably exposed from the mother’s body and no longer retracted. At 22: 45, the tail leaves were delivered about 10 to 15 cm, and at 23: 00, the tail leaves and tail stalks were delivered about 20 cm. In the meantime, another adult female dolphin has been accompanying the mother dolphin. At 23: 45, the baby dolphin delivered about 25 to 30 cm. At this time, the delivered part accounted for about one third of the baby dolphin’s body length. At 22: 51, the mother dolphin suddenly swam and jumped out of the water, only to see a big wave on the water, accompanied by a red splash, and the baby dolphin was delivered smoothly in an instant, and the whole process was clean and neat.

　　　　The newborn porpoise is not skilled in swimming and can’t accurately identify the direction. In order to prevent the dolphins from colliding with the wall of the pool, researchers closely observed and protected them by the pool. About 1 hour after birth, the swimming posture of the dolphin gradually approaches normal. Nearly 4 hours after birth, the young dolphins swam further normally and began to look for their mothers. The mother dolphins gradually swam with the young dolphins. At this time, it can be seen that the young dolphin swims with the mother dolphin, sometimes close to the back of the mother dolphin, lively and lovely. By 9: 00 am on July 6, about 9 hours after the baby dolphin was born, it was observed that the mother dolphin was breastfeeding the baby dolphin. At this point, it can be concluded that the young dolphin was born successfully and began to transfer to the lactation stage.

　　　　The female dolphin that successfully gave birth this time is the first one to give birth. Usually, the female dolphin with the first birth lacks the experience of caring for young, and the other adult female dolphin kept in Baiju Dolphin House has no experience of giving birth, so it is difficult to help this female dolphin. Therefore, the mother and son will face a severe test in the future.

　　　　It is reported that the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully raised Yangtze finless porpoises for more than 9 years, and now there are 4 adult Yangtze finless porpoises with 2 males and 2 females.

　　　　The finless porpoise, commonly known as the "river pig", is a small cetacean widely distributed in the coastal areas and some rivers of East and South Asia, and is a second-class protected animal in China. The finless porpoise is further divided into three subspecies. The finless porpoise Yangtze subspecies (or Yangtze subspecies) distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China is often called Yangtze finless porpoise, which is endemic to China and is currently in an endangered state. The estimated number of wild populations is about 1000. The finless porpoise, a subspecies of northern China, distributed along the coast of Japan, was successfully bred under artificial breeding conditions in the 1970s, and now it has been bred to the third generation under artificial breeding conditions. The Yangtze finless porpoise has been successfully propagated in the semi-natural environment of Shishou Tianezhou Nature Reserve in Hubei and Tongling Nature Reserve in Anhui for several years.